MIDDLETOWN — On the night superstorm Sandy crept beneath their door and into their lives, the Dohertys were sitting around the kitchen table playing Monopoly.

Not long before, Wilson Avenue had been relatively dry, only battered by the storm’s rain and winds. But in what seemed like an instant, the family found themselves stuffing towels and whatever else they could find around their door, in a futile attempt to keep the water out.

“It all happened so fast,” said Gail Doherty, 43, who tried to stay calm for her daughter Ginjer, 9. “I was trying not to act all afraid.”

The rush of water compromised the foundation of their Port Monmouth home, leaving it uninhabitable. Several days later, Gov. Chris Christie visited the neighborhood, where homes are missing exterior walls and family snapshots are scattered in the mud. He put his hands on each of Ginjer’s shoulders, leaned down, and told her everything would be OK.

“I won’t ever forget her,” said Christie of Ginjer earlier this week. “Her face and her fear, the look of fear in her eyes.”

Christie took down the family’s cellphone number and has called Ginjer a couple of times since, he said, to see how she is doing.

“The adults are in charge,’’ Christie said he has told Ginjer. “We’ll take care of you.’’

Receiving personal phone calls from the governor has made a world of difference for Ginjer, who is all smiles after hanging up, Doherty said.

“I can’t give him enough props,” said Doherty of Christie, as she worked in the kitchen of a small vegetarian restaurant she co-owns in Red Bank. “He seems sincere. He’s one of us.”

As Doherty cooked tofu and vegetables at the restaurant, Good Karma Cafe, Ginjer sat quietly on a stool nearby, playing a video game on a cellphone with a pink cover.

School began again on Monday. Of the 17 students in her fourth-grade class, Ginjer said four lost their homes.

“We’re trying not to talk about the storm too much,” said Ginjer, her head down.

The water did not get in her room, so she managed to get out some of the things that were most important to her, such as her hermit crabs and a stuffed dog, Ginjer said.

While Middletown has not officially condemned the house, officials have told Doherty that her family cannot live there.

The family, which is staying in a small studio apartment in Red Bank for the time being, spent the first couple of days after the storm gutting some of the worst-hit parts of the house, Doherty said.

“We’re trying to be optimistic,” said Doherty, who would like to rebuild, but is concerned that the overpowering smell of dampness and mildew will persist. “I just don’t want my child to live in a moldy house.”

Thanks to Christie and to her parents, Ginjer said she feels less scared about the future, and about being torn away from her home, than in the initial days after the storm. Returning to school, where she loves marine biology, has also made a difference for Ginjer, Doherty said.

Ginjer said she really doesn’t need anything.

Well, almost nothing. While she loves chatting on the phone with Christie, seeing the boy band One Direction would really make her day.